School Trip to the Unknown
by Tarem
Summary: Just when Danny's parents had finished installing a ghost shield on his school, to protect it against ghost attacks, Skulker shows up with new gadgets. One of which transports the whole building into the ghost zone. Good thing the newly installed ghost shield is working like a charm. But that doesn't seem to stop Skulker from hunting his favorite prey... Adopted from Az The Dragon
1. A Normal Day

**Authoress' Note:** Hello! Long time no see! :) After years without writing something in English in here, I finally decided to start again. This time is a plot line thought by Az The Dragon. She wrote this whole first chapter and left it up for adoption. I really liked the idea so I decided to give it a shot. My continuation starts on the second chapter, hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman. First chapter and plotline belongs to Az The Dragon. Continuation of the story from second chapter and on is by me.

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**Chapter 1 'A Normal Day'**

"Remind me again…." Danny was sitting at his school desk and drumming his fingers on its surface, really displeased. "How did we end up in this situation?"

Out of the entire class, and maybe the entire school, he, Tucker and Sam were the only kids that had retained their sanity. Even Lancer, who was trying to calm everyone down, seemed overwhelmed. The fact that he was shouting book titles every so often revealed the teacher's true emotions. That, and the fact that his face was pale and sweaty.

Tucker and Sam, who were standing in front of Danny's desk, cringed, unsure what to say. They knew perfectly what had happened and how it had happened. They just didn't know how to say it without infuriating the young halfa.

"I think that the Ghost Shield your parents installed is working perfectly, Danny," Tucker offered while he let his eyes wander through the window. The shield was up and running without a glitch, deflecting any ghost that decided to attack the defenseless school building. Behind it, the swirling greens and blacks of the Ghost Zone.

Danny's blue eyes narrowed lightly and the scowl on his mouth deepened. "That… isn't the point, Tucker…"

Before Sam or Tucker could reply, however, the PA system came to life, and the voice of Jack Fenton filled the room. "Everything is under control!" Danny heard his father exclaim. "The Ghost Shield is one hundred percent operational and no ghost will be able to get past it!"

Not stopping his drumming, Danny pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally counted until he felt calm again. His parents were geniuses and, he had to admit, their crazy inventions always worked. So, why did things always backfire on him?

"Ok," Sam took a breath, grabbed a chair, sat down in front of Danny and ignored a large ghost snake as it passed in front of the windows, right outside the shield. "The shield reacted to that new weapon Skulker got, so maybe if we get it, we can figure out how to reverse the whole process."

"The point is, Sam," Danny stopped drumming his fingers on the table and rubbed his face with his now free hand. "Skulker was outside the shield when…" his other hand vaguely waved towards the window, indicating the shield and the world outside it. "…when all this happened… how are we supposed to track him down when the shield is watched by everyone? I can't simply walk out there like nothing and then…"

Danny stopped talking as he noticed Mister Lancer walk towards them. "How can you kids be so calm?" he asked as he passed one hand over his bald head. He was tired and his voice was a bit lower than usual, and a quick glance at the rest of the class told them why the teacher was so weary.

Their classmates were still frightened, but Lancer had managed to calm them down enough to not have them run around like headless chickens and were now sitting along the opposite wall from the windows, gasping only when they saw a random ghost float outside the shield. The process of soothing the hysterical teens had taken him a good fifteen minutes of yelling and tackling.

Deciding to be partially truthful for the poor teacher's sake, Danny was going to reply with something about the situation being a perfectly normal occurrence in his everyday life. He, however, had no time when the front wall of the classroom exploded, filling the air with flying debris and dark dust.

"Ghost Child! You won't escape me again!"

Panic ensued again, and Lancer found himself yelling again and directing his scared students out of the door, taking for granted that the trio would follow him to the safety of the hall and any other room located as far away from the attacking ghost.

In a matter of a few seconds, the classroom was left empty save for the large robotic form of Skulker and the only three kids that hadn't ran away. Sam blinked, waved at the dust that was getting in her face and watched as the Greatest Hunter of the Ghost Zone floated past the destroyed wall with a large grin plastered on his mechanical face.

"How did you get inside the shield?"

Her reaction to the ghost's presence wasn't exactly what people would expect, but Skulker, even if extremely dangerous, was more of an annoyance to her and her friends than anything else. He had come to hunt Danny so many times that they knew how to deal with him almost by heart, surprises were rare and fear had been replaced by exasperation or any other similar feeling.

"Does it even matter?" Tucker asked, looking at Sam and almost ignoring Skulker, who was still floating in front of them. "Now we can get what we need to take the school out of the Ghost Zone."

Danny, still sitting at his desk, sighed loudly and covered his face with one hand again. This was going to be a long day… he just knew it….


	2. Yep, Still Normal

**Authoress' Note:** So here starts my continuation of Az The Dragon's plotline. I revised the writing myself, so I hope it has no errors…

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman.

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**Chapter 2 'Yep, Still Normal'**

"Stop your nonsensical babbling!"

Clearly irritated by the lack of attention he was receiving, Skulker pulled out one of his ectoguns from his forearm and shot at the three teens. Barely seeing it coming, they jumped sideways dodging the ectoray, which ended up blasting into pieces the desk Danny was using just seconds before.

Danny was the first to get back on his feet, standing right in front of the mechanical ghost with narrowed eyes.

"You got me in a bad mood, Skulker," he said taking a defensive stand. "I guess I'll just have to take it all out on you! I'm going gho-"

A ring of light was just starting to appear around his waist, when he was abruptly interrupted by a sudden blast of pink energy that hit Skulker on the side, sending him flying to the opposite wall from where the blast had come from.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up in my watch, ghost!" Valerie shouted hovering into the room on her board, dressed in her huntress gear. She was pointing her bazooka-like weapon towards the stunted hunter ghost.

"Oh, man! Can this get any worse?" Danny complained with a groan.

"We better get out of here while Mr. and Msr. self-proclaimed greatest hunters are distracted," Sam suggested pointing at the door.

Without a second thought, they ran to it, and exited the classroom, before stopping right on the hallway.

"Coast clear, dude," informed Tucker after a quick look around at the deserted hall. "Hurry, and go ghost!"

"Right! I'm goi-"

"Someone said ghost?!" an adult male voice from around the corner shouted excitedly.

"Let's hurry, Jack! The Fenton Finder shows it's near!" Maddie Fenton said running into view from said corner; followed by her husband.

"Oh, Crud…"

"Danny! What are you kids doing here?" asked Maddie running to her son and his friends. "All students are supposed to go to the gym while we get rid of the ghost."

"Speaking of which, have you seen any ghost around here, Danny-boy?" asked Jack while raising the ghost tracking devise in his hand.

"Ghost located," a female voice sounded from the Fenton Finder. "Ghost directly ahead…"

Danny unintentionally flinched tensing up. He gave a weak smile to his parents starting to think of an excuse, but before he could even open his mouth to explain, a thunderous noise coming from the classroom behind him shook the place. Assuming the detector was referring to whatever being was on the classroom, Jack rushed into the room screaming "Ghost!" at the top of his longs. Maddie stood behind, ordering the kids to find a safe place to hide before following Jack, with her bazooka ready.

She went inside just in time to see Skulker protecting himself from another attack from Valerie, before throwing a couple of missiles at her. Valerie dodged and the missiles ended up destroying several desks and damaging the wall in the back. Maddie immediately joined the fight, firing her weapon at Skulker from behind, who, caught by surprise, was sent flying to one of the bookshelf. While all this was occurring, Jack was busy untangling the Fenton fisher without much success.

"I don't have time for your human games!" exclaimed Skulker clearly annoyed. "You made me lose sight of my prey!"

"Looking for me, Skulker?" a voiced called from above. Right on top of him, he could see Danny Phantom's head popping out from the ceiling; green eyes looking back at him with an amused smile. "I thought hunters were supposed to know how to track the trail of their prey… maybe you're not as good as you claim."

"Let's see if you still say that after I get you and adorn the foot of my bed with your pelt."

"Ew, gross," Valerie let out forgetting what she was supposed to be doing for a second.

Once he was sure he got Skulker's full attention, Danny phased through the ceiling disappearing from sight. Skulker made his metallic turbine-wings appear and followed him through the ceiling, ignoring the group of humans that had surrounded him.

"You filthy ghosts!" exclaimed Maddie in frustration. "Come on, Jack! We won't let them get away!"

The three hunters ran out of the overly destroyed classroom and went their separate ways looking for the ghosts.

Danny flew all the way up until he was right on top of the school, just a few meters away from the recently installed ghost shield. He looked around and twisted his mouth into a half-smile. The roof seemed to be the place that was least susceptible of getting material damages. Knowing that Skulker had followed him closely, he just floated there with hands charged, waiting for the bigger ghost to show up. Soon enough, Skulker phased through the ground meeting the young halfa.

"What new toy did you get this time?" Danny asked with annoyance. "As far as I can tell, you are responsible for sending the whole school into the Ghost Zone. So how did you manage that?"

"Ha! Wouldn't you like to know?" Skulker smirked. "A hunter doesn't have to give explanations to his prey."

"Fine, I'll just beat the answer out of you," Danny replied sending an ectoblast from one hand without warning.

Skulker was unable to dodge in time and was sent flying away. He staggered on the air before regaining his balance just a few inches away from hitting the ghost shield. Growling audibly he flew back to the younger ghost, reading his missiles and firing. Danny predicted his attack and flew away leading the missiles around before stopping as near as possible to the green antighost wall; right on the last second he turned intangible, causing the missiles to pass through him, exploding on the shield. With a smirk of his own, Danny turned tangible again and flew full speed ahead, back to Skulker; fists first. The hunter pulled out his bow and fired a couple of arrows, intending to stop Danny's head-on attack, but the halfa dodged with ease without slowing down.

Danny abruptly came to a stop just a few inches away from the hunter; confusion written all over Danny's face. He looked at his right foot finding it wrapped in ghost chains. Following the chains with his sight all the way to its end, he found a small green portal floating in the middle of the air just a few feet away from him. He then looked back at Skulker, now noticing that one of his arms was stretch to the side with his fist pointing at an identical portal; a pair of chains coming out of his forearm and into the greenish vortex. Danny's eyes widen in realization as Skulker only frown in amusement, before pulling his arm away from the portal.

Danny let out a yelp of surprise, as he was sucked into the portal behind him, before coming out from the other end nearest to Skulker. With the same impulse he first got, the hunter swung the chains over his head before slashing down into the air, sending Danny crashing against the ground, causing the concrete to crack. Soon, the air around him was filled with cement dust.

"Danny!" the voices of Tucker and Sam where suddenly hear as they came out to the roof from the door leading to the inside of the building. They could hear Danny coughing a few times before he flew into view, getting out of the cloud of dust and landing aside his friends.

"That was new…" he stated rubbing his head.

"That's it!" Sam suddenly exclaimed looking up at the vanishing portals. "That's how Skulker was able to get inside the ghost shield!"

"And apparently got the whole school into the Ghost Zone," complemented Tucker.

"I got you now, Ghost Child!" Skulker smiled confidently, pulling out another weapon from his arsenal and shooting.

Danny reacted in time to create a ghost shield around the three, protecting them from the blast. The moment the shot hit the shield, however, it destabilized it and the shield vanished much to the teen ghost's confusion. Not waiting for him to get off his temporal shock, Skulker fired again, hitting Danny square in the chest, sending him crashing against the wall right next to the door. Danny groaned with eyes half-opened, placing a hand on his forehead. Sam and Tucker ran to aid him but were stopped on their tracks when the door was slammed open, hitting Danny in the face and trapping him between the wall and the door itself. A flash of light let them know he had unwillingly changed back to human.

Maddie and Jack came out from the now widely opened entrance, ready for a second round with the ghost that was floating over their heads.

"I, Jack Fenton, will capture you and rip you apart molecule by molecule!"

Skulker just looked at him somewhat skeptical before pointing his fist to his side, creating a portal large enough for him to fit in.

"We'll have to postpone our fight, whelp," he said with a satisfied smile at the door, where Sam and Tucker were already helping Danny to his feet. "I'll come back for you once 'it' takes full effect."

Without another word, Skulker hovered into the portal disappearing from view. Seeing the hunters too distracted with Skulker to actually notice them, the teens walked cautiously inside before the adults could figure they where there.

"Feeling any better?" Sam asked Danny as the three were back in the hallways.

"Well, the headache is gone and my nose is thankfully not broken. But I do feel kinda funny," Danny admitted.

"You think it has something to do with what Skulker said?" asked Tucker looking away from his PDA. "You know, with whatever he is expecting to happen…"

Danny tensed worriedly at the thought, and Tucker gained a frown from Sam; he would have probably gain an elbow smack to his ribs if it wasn't for the fact that Sam was walking at Danny's opposite side.

"Let's just lay low for now, while we figure out how to fix this whole mess," she suggested receiving approving nods from the other two.

"Chronicle of a Death Foretold! What are you, people, doing in the hallways!?"

The three stopped with a flinch at the unmistakable voice of their vice principle and turned around to find the bulky man standing a few feet away.

"We… um… sort of got separated from the group after the ghost showed up," Sam tried to elaborate.

Mr. Lancer frowned for a second, but seemed to buy it and started dragging them along in the gym's direction, while reassuring them he would make sure to get them to safety. The trio exchanged glances unsure of how to get away from the teacher's grasp without rising suspicion. Soon after, the group found Valerie standing by her locker, clearly nervous at the sight of her teacher and classmates. Throwing yet another book reference at the air, Lancer dragged her along without even demanding for an explanation, murmuring something about teenagers and their lack of danger awareness.

"Go on now, join with your group," Lancer ordered them while pushing them forward, inside the gym.

The whole school was already there, making the gym look a little too crammed. The students were divided in small groups; some expressing excitement, some fear, and others just plain complaining about the lack of space and other trivial matters. As the four new comers walked to their own group, they noticed all exists were guarded by teachers, discarding their plans of a smooth escape without being notice.

Danny couldn't help letting out a sigh of resignation, hopping Skulker didn't decide to pay them an early second visit. Of course, he knew better. After all, precious little Murphy's Law was always ready to show him that things can always get worst than it seemed possible.


	3. New Hunting Ground

**Authoress' Note:** Thanks everyone for the reviews, favorites and follows! :)  
Things are starting to get more interesting on this chapter... or so I believe! Sorry if it's a little short but still, hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman.

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**Chapter 3 'New Hunting Ground'**

"This is not good…" Danny started worriedly. "If Skulker decides to show up here, the whole school will be at risk… along with my secret."

"On the bright side, he'll have a hard time finding you with all the students around," Tucker tried to comfort.

"And we actually need to find him if we want to get the school out of the Ghost Zone," Sam reasoned. "Though, it's probably a good idea to sneak out of here before he returns…"

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Tucker while pulling out his PDA from his pocket. "Even if the teachers are guarding the exits, you could phase us through any of them without anyone noticing, right?"

"I'm not sure if I could pull that off with so many people around…"

Tucker smirked taking his eyes off his dearly device to glance at Danny with an idea in mind, but as soon as he looked at his friend, he frowned.

"Dude, is it me or you're getting shorter by the second?"

Taken aback by that statement, Danny looked back at his, now taller, friend before the three of them looked down at Danny's feet in confusion. The half ghost couldn't restrain a small cry of surprise from escaping his lips, the moment he saw that his feet were nowhere to be seen; having disappeared through the wooden floor, with his ankles following suit.

"Fenton!"

Danny tensed at the sound of his name, raising his gaze towards the angry jock that was now stomping towards him. Acting out on reflex, Sam and Tucker stepped in front of their friend in an attempt of hiding his 'situation', making him loose his balance and stumble backwards.

The jock didn't bother with them and just pushed them to the sides, glaring down at his newfound entertainment with irritation. Danny just cringed looking back at the blond nervously; throwing a quit glance at his feet, he was barely able to hide his relief when seeing them back to normal.

"Guess what time is it!" Dash said to him as he threw his fist into his palm several times.

"Time to… calm down and get along in these moments of crisis?" Danny tried with a nervous smile.

"Oh, yeah! I'm sure you and my fist will get along just fine!" Dash retorted. "My doctor ordered me to try productive activities when stressed, and I'm very stressed right now! So it's time for a productive wailing!"

"Look, maybe you should save that for later," said Danny raising his palms towards Dash. "Right now, I'm a littl-" without warning, his right hand glowed slightly and released a small ectoray in Dash's direction. The attack, completely unseen by anyone but Danny, Sam and Tucker, hit directly on the jock's belt causing it to break loose. Soon after, the quarterback's jeans fell off at the mercy of gravity, reveling a pair of boxers with an embarrassing teddy bears pattern. The place went silent for a second before being filled with laughter. Sam and Tucker pulled Danny to his feet and the three of them backed away from the scene, leaving a very shocked Dash to deal with the embarrassment and confusion.

"Man! That was sweet!" Tucker exclaimed congratulating Danny when they were a few feet away, right next to the grades and the nearest exit.

"What were you thinking, Danny?" asked Sam, obviously not thrilled by his friend's reckless act. "What if someone saw you?"

"B-But that wasn't me!" Danny stammered, and after seeing his friends' expressions of unfazed disbelief, he added. "I-I mean… yeah, it was me… but, I didn't do that on purpose! It just… kinda happened."

"You mean you're having troubles controlling your powers?" asked Sam in realization.

"Yeah… like my intangibility just before the ectoray."

"It's like your first month with your powers all over again," commented Tucker with amusement, before lifting his PDA ready to film. "This will be such a crack up!"

Danny just glared at him.

"Tucker, this is serious! If Danny's powers go off again, we may not be that lucky in hiding them."

"But what could have-?" Danny cut himself midsentence as his eyes opened wide, letting it all sink in. "…Skulker!" he finally exclaimed. "You were right, Tuk! Whatever Skulker planned has to do with what's happening to me."

"So that last blast he shot at you may have not been just a simple beam…" Sam reasoned.

With increased urges of exiting the gym before things got any worst, Tucker suggested a distraction. He centered his attention back to his PDA, before further explaining what he had in mind. After a couple of seconds, he showed its content to his two friends. Tucker had hacked into the school's light system without a problem, and explained that he could cause a temporary 'blackout' long enough for them to get out without being noticed.

"Nice, Tucker! I'm impressed!"

"Thanks, Sam," he said quite proud of his plan. "Okay Da-… Danny?"

They both started looking around, but Danny was nowhere to be seen.

"Um… guys?" he called from somewhere above them. When they looked up, they found him holding onto the grades' support bars with one hand, trying to stop himself from floating away. He tried to stabilize himself, taking a better grip on the metal bar, and embraced it with both arms and legs. "A little help?"

"Don't worry, Danny! I got it!"

Tucker didn't waist anymore time and put his plan into action. In an instant, the surroundings darken and the place got colder.

"Are you messing with the air conditioner system too?" Sam asked noticing the immediate change in temperature.

"But I'm not even done yet…" Tucker turned to her in confusion.

"Uh-oh…" Danny realized a moment too late what was really going on, as his ghost sense went off giving him shivers down his spine.

Everyone's attention was suddenly directed to the other side of the gym, when a devilish laugh echoed through the place. Soon after, a green portal appeared right above the basketball net, and a mechanical ghost made his appearance with an amused smirk. The crowd just looked at him with gapping mouths and wide eyes in death silence...

"Boo."

I took just that for the ghost to trigger the chaos in just a matter of seconds. People started screaming and pushing in an attempt to run as far away from the ghost as possible. Several students tried to reach for the exits, but Skulker was fast to seal them by shooting blasts of ectoplasmic goo to the doors.

"Listen up, humans! This is now my new hunting ground!" the ghost said claiming everyone's attention. "A selected few will be transported to different areas of the building, to make my hunting more interesting, while the rest of you will wait here in this 'cage' that you call gym."

Danny glared at him, about to let go of his grip to find somewhere he could transform, but he remembered his little predicament with gravity, and was only able to watch as Skulker started shooting portals all around the place. One after another, the portals appeared, starting to pull in random students and teachers, right before vanishing. Chaos ensued once again and the screams filled the air as everyone tried to escape from the green vortexes.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed to him, before being sucked in by one of them. Tucker soon ending with the same fate.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny let go of the bar and extended his hand towards the portals that had taken his friends in an attempt to reach them, but he just started floating upwards.

"Found you, whelp," Skulker's voice called from the other side of the gym before shooting a portal just behind Danny.

"Wha-?!"

The last thing Danny was able to see was the greenish vortex closing on him the moment it pulled him inside.


	4. Ghost Hunt

**Authoress Note:** Here's the next chapter. :D  
Sorry for the long wait. Horrible writer's block attacked me through some parts, so it was even slower to get done D: … Anyway, thanks again for all the feedback! I'm really happy to see you like the story so far.  
By the way, I don't think I mentioned this: I'm placing the story sometime after "Life Lessons". That's to clear any confusion regarding the characters behavior towards others.

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman.

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**Chapter 4 'Ghost Hunt'**

Consciousness came back to him. He slowly opened his eyes feeling dazed from the rough traveling. He blinked a few times trying to clear the blurriness in his sight. Once his vision was back to normal, he raised an eyebrow in confusion. He had a bird's eye view of one of the school's classrooms. It took Danny just a few seconds to comprehend he was actually floating against the ceiling. He could only let out a yelp of surprise before gravity took over and made him meet the floor below with a loud crash. He groaned standing up slowly.

"That would have been a perfect time for intangibility to kick in unasked…"

Danny looked around in hopes of finding Sam or Tucker in the room, but it was deserted. Whoever was having class in there, left hurriedly without a second thought. The desks were all moved around or even turned over, there were papers scattered all around the floor and personal belongings were left behind.

Deciding to move on, Danny walked out of the classroom finding a dark and desolated hallway. He walked just a few steps, when his ghost sense went off, making him stop in his track.

"Great, now what?" he asked with irritation. Making sure there was no one to see him, he changed into phantom, before flying through the line of lockers in search of the ghost he sensed.

Turning around a corner, he found a big green animal-like creature resembling some kind of wolf with red eyes, growling with sharp teeth at a helpless student that was cornered against the wall. Danny landed right in between the two and filled his hands with ecto-energy, standing with a challenging gesture.

"So Skulker let his little pets go free," he commented before raising his voice to the creature. "Hey, furball! Don't you know the rules? No pets in school!"

Danny directed his palms towards the beast, shooting a pair of ecto-ray that hit the ghost, sending it crashing against the lockers. The animal ghost just seemed to have gotten angrier and charged at Danny intending to bite him.

"You might wanna run," Danny suggested to his peer, who barely nod before running away screaming his lungs out.

Turning his attention back to the fight, Danny reacted in time turning himself intangible, but in the last second, his powers acted up again causing the intangibility on his body to flicker. The teenager gasped in surprised and pain when the beast threw him back-first to the floor; its sharp teeth scraping his skin and leaving a thin cut on his upper arm.

"Play time is over, doggy," Danny managed to say in an attempt to kick it off him.

The moment his foot connected with the ghostly beast, it went right through its stomach having turned intangible.

"Wha-?" Danny looked incredulously at his foot before turning back at the beast's face. It was growling at him with its head leaning forward centimeters away from his own nose. Danny just grinned nervously. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

Danny started glowing green for a second before a powerful blast hit the creature right on the chest sending it flying to the ceiling. It crashed against the lights receiving a zap before falling back to the ground completely staggered. Danny stood up looking at his smoking palm somewhat amused.

"Well, that's not what I had in mind, but it worked," he smiled satisfied before turning to the stunted ghost. "Now, back to the cage, Fido," Danny reached for his back and realization washed over him. "Oh, crud… I don't have a thermos with me."

He looked around thinking of a side plan when he noticed where he was.

"My locker should be on the floor below. I could-Whoa!"

The beast suddenly lunged towards him from the back, sending him to the ground. Danny closed his eyes in concentration and managed to make them both intangible, phasing through the floor into the hallway below and falling on top of something as hairy as the wolf-like ghost. He opened his eyes to see he had fallen on a, now knocked out, rabbit-like creature.

"Is Mr. Whiskers a friend of yours?" he asked to the growling beast.

Without warning, a pink blast hit the wolf making it stumble down next to the rabbit. Danny looked up in surprise to find Valerie on her huntress suite with a big gun resting on her shoulder.

"Hey, ghost boy! Long pass!"

"Sam?" Danny turned around to find Sam throwing a thermos at him. He flew to catch it and didn't waste any time sucking both animal ghosts into the cylindrical device.

"Were those more of your pets, ghost?" Valerie asked in an acid tone with her weapon ready and charged.

"What?! No! This is all Skulker's!" Danny defended with irritation, landing in front of her. "He's at it again, and unless we stop him, I don't think we can get the school out of the ghost zone."

"Why do you care anyway?" Valerie asked somewhat skeptical.

"Hero… complex?" Sam suggested next to them, gaining a slight glare from Danny.

"Look, I just wanna help, ok?" said Danny placing the thermos on his back; determination showing in his face. "Right now is not the time to be fighting each other when we have a bigger problem to handle."

Valerie looked at him in silence, as if analyzing his words and expression. After a short moment she sighed lowering the weapon and offering him her hand.

"Fine. You win, ghost boy," she said in resignation. "Let's be allies… for now."

Danny smiled at her nodding before shaking her hand to seal their deal.

"Okay, now that that's settle…" interrupted Sam walking in front of them and hanging her spider bag on her shoulders. " What's the plan?"

"We find Skulker and take the portal device from him," explained Danny.

"Well, that sounds simple enough."

"Let's get going. The sooner we get out of this, the sooner I'll be able to kick your ghostly butt when this is over," said Valerie walking ahead.

"So much for gaining her trust…" said Danny, crossing his arms in annoyance. Sam just smiled sympathetically at him.

"The Ghost Child and the Huntress, this just became more interesting!"

All three of them looked over their heads in time to see Skulker appearing from within one of his temporal portals, riding a bear beast. The creature landed with a roared at the sight of them and scratched the floor impatiently waiting for its master's orders to attack them. The mechanical ghost extended his arm towards them, taking a weapon out of his forearm.

"Having fun trying to control your powers, whelp?"

Before Danny could respond, Valerie entered into her 'shoot first, ask questions never' mode and shot a blast towards Skulker, making him fall from the beast's saddle. She didn't waste any time charging her weapon again and pointing it at the ghostly hunter.

"So, you finally decided to show up, ghost," she said in a challenging tone.

Skulker growled in annoyance and shot a missile in their direction. Danny grabbed Sam and turned both intangible. Valerie jumped out of the way activating her hover board. The missiles ended up blowing against the floor lifting debris and smoke all over the place; the force of the explosion sending Valerie flying a few feet away. When it cleared up, they could see a small smoking crater right on the spot where the missiles had blasted.

"At this rate, there won't be a school to save," commented Danny after turning their tangibility back. "We better lead him outside," he jumped up attempting to fly but...

Sam cringed at the smacking sound of her friend falling face first to the floor.

"Ugh…this is starting to get annoying," Danny raised his head reaching his forehead with one hand. He froze in place hearing a low growl right next to him. Turning around, he found the beast's face centimeters away from his own.

"Don't your pets know anything about personal space?" he asked rolling away from it and shooting rays of ectoplasm from his palms, or so he tried, but nothing came out. "Oh, come on!"

Skulker grinned evilly, commanding his beast to attack. Danny jumped to his feet and stood still in until the last second, he then moved out of the way allowing the creature to impact the wall behind him, creating yet another crater.

"What are you doing, Phantom? I thought you wanted to save the school, not destroy it!" Valerie yelled hovering over his head.

"It was me or the wall!" Danny exclaimed exasperated. "I rather have one more crushed wall, than me looking like a pancake…"

Skulker didn't give any time for an answer as he shot more missiles towards them. Danny reacted in time creating a shield around them and causing the missiles to explode right on its surface. The shield unexpectedly grew wider until it reached Skulker and plastered him and his beast against the wall in awkward positions, before it flickered out of existence. Valerie blinked twice in confusion, giving Danny a questioning look. Sam just looked at him blankly before grinning slightly in amusement.

"Um… I meant to do that…" Danny lied looking back at them with a goofy grin.

A growl from the beast made them remember their current situation and looking back at the ghosts, they found a very annoyed Skulker and an enraged beast glaring daggers at them.

"Come on, we don't have much time!" said Valerie reading her hover board's engines.

Danny tried lifting himself from the ground but his feet stood rooted in place. He groaned. "I can't fly…"

"What do we do now?" Sam asked.

Deciding to leave the questions for later, Valerie lowered her board to ground level. "Hop on, hurry!" she commanded.

"Thinking on escaping, ghost child?" Skulker asked starting to float using the turbines on his back.

Danny gritted his teeth and did as Valerie had said, when a sudden scream followed by an explosion distracted them all for a moment.

"You better say your prayers, ghost!" they heard a voice exclaiming.

"What?" Valerie looked through the hallway not finding anything abnormal.

"That voice! Mo-Maddie!" Danny exclaimed worried. _'This is bad…'_

Something clicked on Sam's head and she started running towards the end of the hallway, were the commotion had come from.

"Sam! Where are you going!?" asked Danny with a worried frown.

"You go on ahead! I'll… guide her to the 'right' direction."

Understanding the hidden meaning behind her words, he just nodded and hurried Valerie into speeding ahead. In a matter of seconds, they were riding through the halls, making sharp turns every now and then, with the hunter following suit. Danny had created a shield behind them, preventing Skulker's attacks to do any damage.

"Couldn't you turn us intangible all the way to the outside?" Valerie suggested.

"My powers have been acting up; I wouldn't take any chances of becoming a sticker on the wall."

"We'll have to do it my way then."

Meanwhile, Sam continued running towards the battling sounds, but a sudden growl made her stop on her track and turn around. Just a few feet away, the bear-like ghost had been left behind, too, and was now looking at Sam with fierce red eyes. She flinched for a second before switching into a battle stand with determination.

"Wanna play, Yogie?" she asked in a challenging tone. "Come at me."

Feeling provoked by her daring stare, the beast headbutted at her. Sam waited for the right timing and rolled out of the way taking out a second Fenton thermos from her backpack and pointed it at the confused beast, sucking it in within seconds.

"Gotcha," Sam smiled satisfied at the thermos, while placing her free hand over her hip.

"Sam! Don't tell me you were taken by one of those portals, too," a voice from behind, made her jump and hide the thermos behind her back as she turned around to find Maddie and one of the students.

"Oh! Hello, Mrs. Fenton!" she greeted. "Y-Yeah… that's exactly what happened," she answered truthfully.

"Well, you better stay near me; we don't know when more of those horrible ghosts may show up," said Maddie sheathing her double blade ecto-weapon on her jumpsuit.

"T-Thank you, again, for saving me, Mrs. Fenton!" said the boy next to her in excitement.

"Oh, it was nothing, Nathan," said Maddie in a sweeter voice, as if it had not being such a big deal.

"So… where's Mr. Fenton?" asked Sam hopping to delay them a little more.

"I was waiting for him to return from the bathroom, when I caught sight of the beast that was attacking Nathan, so I ran after it," Maddie explained. "But he'll be alright on his own, don't worry," she added, while starting to go ahead. "We should keep walking and look for any other student that might have been pulled out of the gym."

Sam sighed inwardly and followed out of options.

Already a good distance away from them, Danny and Valerie had just reached the exit leading to the school's running track, only to find the door had been sealed, similarly to the doors in the gym. Valerie made her board turn around hundred and eighty degrees before continuing ahead meeting Skulker right on front. Danny shot a pair of ectoplasm blasts at the hunter that came out a little too big, making them unavoidable. Skulker was sent flying backwards into one of the classrooms, blasting the door into pieces.

"If you were going to destroy the place anyways, you might have as well just blasted the exit doors…" complained Valerie without stopping.

"Sorry, it came a little stronger than I intended," Danny replied sheepishly.

Even with that last attack, Skulker didn't take long to get back in track and continue giving chase. As they continue speeding through the place, they passed by different exit doors. All of them sealed with ectoplasmic goo. Turning a corner, they caught sight of two people standing in the middle of the hallway throwing nervous glances to their surroundings.

"Move out of the way!" warned them Valerie as they approached.

"_City of the Beasts!_ What's going on here!?"

"Oh, my gosh! It's the ghost boy~!"

"Oh, great…" Danny just grimaced behind Valerie. "Tell me you have emergency breaks..."


	5. Chase In The Hallway

**Authoress Note:** Sorry again for the long wait. Between tests before vacations, my birthday and a music presentation I had, I got kind of busy… anyways here it is at last! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone! Enjoy! :)

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman.

* * *

**Chapter 5 'Chase In The Hallway'**

The distraction lasted long enough for Skulker to hit the board's bottom with an ecto-blast. The board was flipped over to the front, propelling both users into the air. Valerie was able to grab hold of it while falling and tried desperately to regain control of the flight. Danny wasn't that lucky and hit the ground painfully, rolling and skidding a few feet before breaking into a stop, just inches away from his teacher and classmate. They both watched him in shock unable to speak, as he moaned in pain and stood up shakily.

"Not my best landing…"

Skulker smirked and continued firing, giving no time for recuperating. The teenage ghost barely managed to lift his hands and built a shield around the group, saving them from the constant attacks. Paulina beamed at him behind his back assuming her flirting stance.

"Oh! You came for ME!" she squealed. "I knew you were going to save me!"

Keeping the shield up, Danny looked over his shoulder with a tired expression.

"Run!" he commanded, trying to make his voice sound with as much authority as he could muster.

The simple command made Lancer get out of his shock just in time to see Paulina stretching her arms while starting to hop towards Phantom.

"Not towards me! I thought we've gone through this already," Danny complained, but soon felt grateful when Lancer stopped his student from advancing any farther. "If I say 'run', you run away into the other direction."

Danny felt his power faltering for a moment again and the shield flickered out of existence leaving them all exposed to the hunter's attacks.

"And it probably will be a good idea to do that now…"

"Phantom! Let's go!" exclaimed Valerie lowering her board again, while evading a ghostly net thrown in their general direction. Danny jumped back on without a second thought. Paulina seemed to be about to protest but was soon cut off by Valerie. "We'll lead him away! You find somewhere to hide while everything is solved!"

With that said, the huntress speeded out of there leaving their teacher and classmate behind.

"No matter how much you try to run, you won't stop the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter from getting his prize!" Skulket yelled, chasing after them.

"What now? There's nowhere else to go!" Valerie exclaimed without stopping.

"What about the roof?" Danny suggested while keeping an eye on Skulker's vicious attacks.

Without warning, a blue light engulfed him for an instant before vanishing. Danny looked down at himself in bewilderment finding he was back in his casual clothes.

"Oh, man!" he exclaimed taking a lock of raven hair in front of his now blue eyes.

"What was that light?!" asked Valerie trying to look over her shoulder.

"N-Nothing! Just keep going!" Danny replied hiding behind her back.

An explosion just next to them got Valerie's attention back to riding the board. She made a sharp turn up the stairs and increased the speed.

"Do something about those missiles, Phantom!"

"Um…" Danny looked around nervously before looking at his hands. He raised his palms trying to concentrate enough energy and two powerful blasts were shot towards the pursuing ghost…

Not so far from their current position and oblivious to the nearing commotion, Tucker found himself walking side by side with Danny's dad, too busy trying to distract himself with his PDA to listen to Jack's babbling about ghosts.

"Here, Tucker!" Jack passed him a gun. "With this, you can be my sidekick and help me blast those ghosts into oblivion!"

"Oh… um… thanks, Mr. F…" Tucker accepted the gun reluctantly.

"That's the latest model of the mini-Fenton-Bazooka," explained Jack. "The ladies love it!"

Tucker perked up at that last statement, showing a sudden interest into what Jack had to say, and as in on cue, they heard a high pitch scream coming from around the corner.

"Ghosts!" charging his weapon, Jack ran towards the sound without a second thought.

"Hang in there, ladies! Tucker Foley is coming to save ya," he ran after Jack and skidded into the next hallway finding the source of the scream; his face instantly deflating.

There was a small blob of ectoplasm floating around a horrified Dash, whose arms were raised protectively over his head while he cowered in the corner screaming like a little girl. Jack charged towards the ecto-being and started giving chase back and ford through the hallway while Tucker just walked next to Dash and watched the scene with unimpressed disinterest. Dash stopped yelling and looked around in fear. Seeing Tucker, he frowned and grabbed him by his shirt pulling him up against the wall.

"A word from this to anyone, Foley, and you'll be number one on my 'to wail daily' list!"

"I didn't see a thing," Tucker stated nervously, raising his palms in defense.

A sudden explosion shook the place for an instant making them all look around in confusion. The ecto-blob disappeared through the wall in fright just as a hover board carrying two passengers turned a corner and started speeding through the hallway they were in just a few moments ago.

"Is that…?" Dash trailed off letting go of the techno-geek and pointing weakly in their direction with confusion read all over his face. Tucker tensed up notoriously throwing nervous glances from Danny to the pair beside him.

"You'll pay for that, whelp!" exclaimed a big armored ghost flying behind them. Danny cringed at his smoking and bruised suite before grinning sheepishly.

"Now you did it…" the huntress commented throwing a side glance but without looking behind.

"Hey, you told me to get rid of the missiles," Danny shrugged trying to excuse himself from the overpowered attack he threw to the hunter ghost.

"Yeah, but that didn't mean you had to anger him," she retorted. "Hand on, we're almost there."

They speeded on out of sight, unaware of the presence of the three people left behind, who stare at the now empty hallway in bewilderment. Jack was the first one to get out of his shock.

"No ghost threats my son without having to deal with me! Jack Fenton!" he yelled running in an attempt to catch up with them. "Don't worry, Danny-boy! I'm coming!"

"Wha-?! W-wait up, Mr. F!" Tucker ran after him not really knowing how to stop him.

Dash was the last one to get his brain back in track and seeing he was being left alone, he let out a small yelp before running after them. They ran through a few hallways following the sound of explosion, but even with all the energy built in the overgrown man, it was not possible to keep up with the other three, and eventually lost them completely, leaving him and the two students all tired and gasping for air in the corridors.

A few stairs and turns away, Valerie and Danny were heading for the building's roof, with Skulker hot in their tail. Even without being able to turn into Phantom, Danny was able to use most of his powers just the same and stop Skulker's attacks from reaching them, which he was really grateful of. The hunter narrowed his eyes with annoyance as his last ectoblast was countered by an energy wave coming from Danny. The halfa kid just smirked back in a challenging manner as in daring him to try again, before raising an eyebrow in confusion, having diverted his view to the hunter's forearm. Skulker followed his gaze to the portal device, noticing it was throwing small sparks of electricity. In an attempt to make it stop, Skulker hit it twice with his fist causing it to shoot a pair of portals.

One of them materialized right in front of the teenagers' path, while its counterpart appeared on the side of the road, just a few meters ahead of Skulker. Unable to avoid it in time, the board reached the portal right at the moment when Skulker was passing by the second one. Screams of surprise were followed by a loud crash and cries of pain. Valerie's hover board contracted out of existence under her boots making her fall to the ground and skid a few meters before stopping; her huntress suite deactivated soon after. Danny and Skulker were both sent against opposite walls; instincts kicking in, they both turned intangible right before hitting the concrete and ended up phasing out of the hall.

Valerie groaned starting slowly to get back to her feet. She checked her huntress gear and tried to reactivate it but it didn't respond. Looking around, she noticed she was left alone in the hallway right next to the janitor's closet. She sighed in annoyance, taking out an ecto-gun from her backpack. The young huntress had just decided to continue walking her way to the roof, when the door to the janitor's closet opened ahead of her. Danny walked out of it feeling a bit of dizziness from the sudden impact.

"Man! Talking about headaches!"

"Fenton!"

Danny froze in place when hearing his name behind his back, mentally kicking himself for not checking before walking out to the hallway. He turned around finding Valerie in her normal clothes looking at him somewhat surprised.

"V-Valerie! H-Hi! Um… what are you doing here?" he stammered trying to look surprised. Not that it was exactly difficult being as nervous as he was.

"I… Nothing!" she yelled hiding her gun behind her back. "I was just dragged here by one of the portals and… you know…"

"Oh, yeah, the portals. I guess that makes us two," he responded with a nervous laugh.

A long and tense silence followed right after, with both trying lamely to hide their anxiety towards the other finding out about their double life. They were both too busy being nervous to actually notice the other's strange behavior.

'Okay, this is awkward…' Danny thought sighing inwardly.


	6. Half a Secret For Half a Secret

**Authoress Note:** Next chapter finally up! :) Next one will be the last one. I was going to make this one the last chapter by making it longer, but it's taking me more time than I expected, so I decided to divide it. The last chapter is almost done too, though, so it may be up more or less next week, if I manage it.

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman.

* * *

**Chapter 6 'Half a Secret for Half a Secret'**

Danny and Valerie continued walking together after a long internal debate from both parts. Having found Fenton alone, Valerie couldn't bring herself to leave him there to his luck, which in her perspective, it wasn't that good to begin with, seeing how his clumsiness caused him so many troubles with school property. To Danny, he just was unable to find a good excuse to continue 'their separate ways', and reunite with the huntress as Phantom, so he had to deal with his classmate's decision.

They walked in silence for just a few minutes before encountering a new problem. Danny shivered covering his mouth the moment his ghost sense was activated. Valerie noticed his actions and stopped walking looking at him in confusion.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah… I…" Danny stopped midsentence catching sight of a big spider-like ghost hanging from the ceiling, about to throw a string of web towards them. "Get down!" he yelled pushing her out of the way.

Valerie was caught by surprise and ended up losing her balance and falling. She looked up about to complain in irritation, just in time to see the string of web hit Danny in his arm with such force that he was sent backwards against the floor a few feet away. The girl gasped looking up toward the offender. It jumped down right next to her, but ignored her completely approaching Danny instead, who was trying to free his arm from the web that had glued him to the ground.

"Danny!" she alerted him kneeling up and taking her backpack. To her surprise, her gun was not there. "Where is it!?" she asked looking around frantically.

Danny looked up from his arm when hearing Valerie's yell, just to find the spider standing right over him.

"You guys gotta stop ambushing people like this," Danny complained while rolling to his trapped arm's side to evade one of the spider's legs, causing it to crumble the concrete beneath it, instead. He had to cover his head with his free arm to avoid a second leg that crushed the floor right on the spot where his head was seconds ago. And reacting just as fast, he kicked the floor, pushing his lower body up to evade a pair of fangs that attempted to trap him.

"No dinner for you tonight, bug!" Valerie yelled shooting her found weapon to the ghost. It screeched, raising its front legs in pain. Valerie didn't waste any time and shoot a second blast towards the web imprisoning Danny, making it vanish.

Danny jerked his hand away from the webs remains rubbing it with his other hand.

"That was way too close for comfort," he said worriedly.

"Snap out of it, Fenton! My gun doesn't hurt humans, now move out of there!"

"Well, that's a relief," he mumbled with sarcasm.

Noticing the spider was about to attack again, Danny rolled backwards over his head and shoulder pushing his body up with his arms and falling on his feet in one fluid movement. Valerie shoot at the ghost one more time making it stagger, and giving Danny enough time to pull out his thermos and activate it, sucking the ghost in.

They stood there for a few seconds, assimilating what had happened. Danny was the first in releasing the air he was holding and relax his muscles. Valerie lowered her weapon in a similar motion before staring at him.

"You… aren't as clumsy as you let on…" she stated making him tense again.

"What? Um... no, it was just… luck?" he tried lamely, looking warily at Valerie's gun. She frowned in thought.

"...I won't tell if you don't."

"Huh?"

"With those reflexes, you could have stop Dash from bulling you a long time ago," she started. "I don't know why, but you don't want anyone to know that you actually have some fight on you, right?"

Danny cringed visibly at that.

"Thought so... I won't tell anyone, but in return, you won't say anything about my anti-ghost equipment," she finished showing her gun for emphasis.

Danny bit his lower lip before he sighed, and nodded in defeat.

"Deal," he finally said earning a smile from the girl, which he returned goofily.

"Danny!"

They looked towards the voice finding Sam and Nathan at the end of the hallway. Valerie hided her gun hurriedly in her backpack, just as Maddie came flying into view with a battle cry, defeating another beast-ghost. She stood up putting away her weapon and cleaned debris out of her suite, before she noticed the two children.

"Oh hello, sweetie," she said in a motherly tone. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine… mom," Danny answered a little embarrassed.

"There you are, son!" Jack's voice boomed from the opposite side of the hallway. They all looked around to find him standing with weapon in hand. Tucker and Dash were panting tiredly behind him. "Where's that big nasty ghost that was chasing-?"

"IT… went away…" Danny interrupted him with a high pitched tone while giving nervous side glances to Valerie.

Not noticing the strange behavior of his son, Jack only pouted childishly in disappointment. At the same time, unnoticed by everyone, a portal appeared right over their heads releasing a big cage made out of ectoplasmic energy. The cage fell right on top of Valerie and Danny, capturing them successfully, and causing a general gasp from everyone.

"I finally got you, ghost child!" Skulker's voice resonated all around them, before making himself present right on top of the cage.

'Oh, crud…'

"Ghost child?!" Maddie exclaimed in confusion. Danny stammered thinking for something to say.

"…Um… What?! You're a ghost!?" he blurted out looking at Valerie with exaggerated surprise.

"What?!" Valerie looked at him in disbelief.

Sam couldn't help but face-palm at her friend's lame attempt to cover his own identity.

"Ghost child, ghost boy… Valerie is the ghost boy?" Jack asked to himself starting to actually consider the idea.

Skulker smirked at his captured prey aiming his portal device to the floor. Without another word, he created a portal right below the cage, and jumped down, disappearing within it and taking both teens along.

" …O-Oh no! Skulker must have captured them as bait for the Ghost boy!" Sam elaborated.

"Bait? Why would he think keeping them hostage will bait him out?" asked Maddie in confusion.

"Maybe Valerie IS the ghost boy after all!" Jack said before narrowing his eyes. "I KNEW it!"

"Um… I'm pretty sure they're bait…" Sam replied with a blank expression. "I mean, come on! How could a human be a ghost?"

Maddie just laugh at the comment. "Of course they can't! But I still don't get why they would be bait…"

" Two words:" Tucker started. "Hero Complex."


End file.
